Concert Review: Bryson Tiller at House of Blues

Louisville native Bryson Tiller paid a visit to the birthplace of chopped and screwed music Sunday night at House of Blues.

On the road of sold out shows in cities Louisville native Bryson Tiller never imagined visiting, his performance at HOB proved otherwise. Walking into a packed venue with hundreds of T R A P S O U L fans, I was ready to experience an evening of quality R&B. After great opening sets from YEMG signee Tone Stith and MOAG signees THEY., the crowd was more than ready for Tiller to grace the stage.

Bryson Tiller (Photo by Rupal Mehta)

Darkness and fog coated the venue as Bryson Tiller came out to the opening track of his debut album “Intro (Difference),” which was fitting. He then transitioned seamlessly into the album’s next track “Let ‘Em Know,” which made all the ladies in the crowd go crazy. His mysterious demeanor with all the fog and no front spotlights to illuminate the artist’s face made for a more intimate performance.

Cruising through tracks such as “For However Long” and “Exchange,” Tiller knew exactly how to work the sold out crowd and have everyone sing along with him. Picking up the pace with hard-hitting tracks “Rambo” and “502 Come Up,” the audience reciprocated by jumping along to the beats of both songs. For all of his day one SoundCloud followers (including me), Tiller performed “Just Another Interlude” which ended up being my favorite song of the night. A literal purple haze took over House of Blues as his smooth vocals glided along each note of the song as he smiled when he heard his true fans singing along.

Bryson Tiller (Photo by Rupal Mehta)

After telling a brief story of how his most popular track “Don’t” changed his life, the deep bass drop of the track shook the entire venue and screams and hollers from everyone in the audience were heard. People who have vaguely heard of Tiller because of this brilliantly produced track when he first posted it on his SoundCloud account back in 2014. However, hearing the track live is whole other ball game. The chopped and screwed lyrics of “H-Town got me feelin’ so throwed” was repeated as an honor to the city he was currently performing in.

Bryson Tiller (Photo by Rupal Mehta)

With little to no imperfections, what you hear on the album is almost exactly how he sounds live. This tells a lot about an artist and how little modification they use in the studio, which accounts for true talent. With no encore on Super Bowl Sunday, Tiller exited the stage with grace and humbleness with a promise to Houston that he would be back to perform once again. In general, fans attend concerts for the music and experience, and based on that alone, Bryson Tiller succeeded.